Acclaim’s David Perry has selected a director for his “Top Secret” MMOG project.
A year and a half ago, when David Perry and Acclaim annouced a “Top Secret” game built by the development community, Perry hoped the project’s development would be supported by “pure, focused, passionate talent” from contributors worldwide who would in turn learn “how to make professional games.”
The most dedicated developer, as picked by Perry, would be granted directorship of what became a massively-multiplayer online racing game.
Mike “Doran” Zummo, a 34-year old game enthusiast from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, has been declared the winner. Zummo joined the Top Secret Advisory Board during its inception in November 2007 and has actively managed the “Top Secret” community with his “What’s Going On” reports. He will be working at Acclaim with Perry as Executive Producer through the project’s completion.
“Mike was always among our top choices. His dedication to the project has never wavered for almost a year and a half of consistent effort – while holding down a full-time job! Mike has a steady, honest and humble demeanor, a great attention to detail and a phenomenal work ethic. He has all the makings of a great game director,” said assistant director Rusel DeMaria.
A number of other individuals influential in “Top Secret”‘s success have gone on to careers within the industry thanks to their experience. Perry personally hired Michael Liebwein as a game designer for an associated Acclaim game that has recently shipped. Both Matt Edwards and Paul Lipscombe work at www.thefanawards.org, a site celebrating Flash game developers. Michelle Montierth was brought into Acclaim as the head of its localization department.
“I think we’ve proven that this is a great way to find super passionate people, by creating an incredibly difficult task, unleashing it on a massive amount of people who live for games, using the latest internet technologies, and hiring the ones that rose to the top. It’s a win-win and you can be sure we will be doing more of it in the future,” said Perry.
Would-be designers and anyone interested in supporting “Top Secret” can check out the official Acclaim site or begin working at the “Videogame Team” wiki.
Source: David Perry via GamesIndustry
